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Colleges

The College of Cardiothoracic Surgeons: CCS (CMSA)

Prof Francis Edwin Smit
President
smitfe@ufs.ac.za
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Prof Jacques Teran Janson
Secretary
Prof Risenga Frank Chauke
Senator

Examinations

Documents

Constitution of the College of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (2021)

Guidelines

Guidelines for Presidents and Secretaries of Constituent Colleges
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COUNCIL MEMBERS

BROOKS, André
PENNEL, Timothy Charles

Constituent College Officers and Councils

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Prof Francis Edwin Smit

President

Prof. Smit is the Head of Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and established the Robert W M Frater Cardiovascular Research Centre at the University of the Free State in 2015. This center has three divisions – Clinical research, Tissue engineering, research and development and basic sciences, and Integrated interdisciplinary simulation training.

Prof Smit fulfills an active roll in the areas of Education and Training in his discipline and serves on multiple organizations and societies in South Africa and across the globe. He is the Coordinator of the Annual Hannes Meyer Registrar Symposium, and was appointed to this role in 2004. In this capacity, he is supported by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons of SA (SCTSSA), the College of Cardiothoracic Surgeons of SA. Since 2004, Prof Smit has played an active roll in the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS) and has been the Honorary secretary of the Pan African Cardiothoracic Society (PASCaTS) since 2014. Prof has also served the Education Committee of EACTS (2020 -) and international co-operation committee (ICC) from 2013 to 2018).

Prof Smith heads an Integrated interdisciplinary high-fidelity simulation training unit at the UFS which provides an essential educational research and development platform for sub–Saharan Africa. He has also developed an international patent for a decellularization and sterilization process in bovine pericardium. A regular reviewer for peer reviewed journals, Prof Smit was Elected as Cardiothoracic surgery section editor of the Journal CMSA in 2023. Prof Smit has published more than 75 articles and abstracts in peer reviewed journals and resented more than 70 invited papers at national and international conferences. He is the promotor of 9 PhD ‘s and more than 25 master’s degrees/dissertations at the UFS, Central University of Technology and the University of Stellenbosch.

In 2021, Prof Smit was elected as a member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons (AATS) in 2021 in recognition of trainer, researcher, and leadership roles in national and international professional bodies.